Rocket Lab and MIT are preparing a privately funded probe to plunge through Venus’s clouds looking for organic chemistry linked to possible life. It will get only about five minutes to take measurements before descending into increasingly lethal conditions — and the entire mission has been estimated at under $10 million.

The five-minute Venus Life Finder probe has an instrument and heat shield, but no confirmed launch date. Its fluorescence test could find organics, not prove life. The post Rocket Lab and MIT are preparing a privately funded probe to plunge through Venus’s clouds looking for organic chemistry linked to possible life. It will get only about five minutes to take measurements before descending into…